Heart and vascular disease are major problems in the United States and throughout the world. Conditions such as atherosclerosis result in blood vessels becoming blocked or narrowed. This blockage can result in lack of oxygenation of the heart, which has significant consequences since the heart muscle must be well oxygenated in order to maintain its blood pumping action.
Occluded, stenotic, or narrowed blood vessels may be treated with a number of relatively non-invasive medical procedures including percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), and atherectomy. Angioplasty techniques typically involve the use of a balloon catheter. The balloon catheter is advanced over a guidewire so that the balloon is positioned adjacent a stenotic lesion. The balloon is then inflated, and the restriction of the vessel is opened. It is typically considered desirable to have a catheter which varies in flexibility along its length, from a stiffer proximal section to a more flexible distal section.
One of the major obstacles in treating coronary artery disease and/or treating blocked blood vessels is restenosis. Evidence has shown that cutting the stenosis, for example with an angioplasty balloon equipped with a cutting blade, during treatment can reduce incidence of re-stenosis in certain applications. Additionally, cutting the stenosis may reduce trauma at the treatment site and/or may reduce the trauma to adjacent healthy tissue. Cutting blades may also be beneficial additions to angioplasty procedures when the targeted occlusion is hardened or calcified. Thus, angioplasty balloons equipped with cutting edges have been developed to attempt to enhance angioplasty treatments.